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Mail mystery: Muskegon post office looking for family to open World War II-era letter

Mail Mystery.JPG

An unopened World-War-II era letter turned up in the Muskegon mail recently, addressed to a Ã¢ÂÂMr. and Mrs. SensabaughÃ¢ÂÂ at a Washington Avenue home thatÃ¢ÂÂs now empty.
(Stephen Kloosterman/MLive.com)

MUSKEGON, MI – Postmaster William Rowe is searching for the relatives of long-gone recipients after an unopened World War II-era letter turned up in the mail recently.

The letter was originally addressed to a "Mr. and Mrs. Sensabaugh" at a Washington Avenue home in Muskegon that's now empty, and bore an initial postmark from a 1945 Army Post Office. The return address listed the letter's sender as Sgt. Myron C. Cook, with the letter traveling through the New York city post office at one time.

There was a more recent postmark on the letter -- from Minneapolis 2013 – printed over the old.

"We think somebody put it back into the mail stream," Rowe said.

A vintage sealing material on the back of the letter makes him think the letter has never been opened.

"We're not going to disturb it until we can see if we can find the family first," said secretary Veronica Mauseth.

View full sizeMuskegon Postmaster William Rowe, right, and secretary Veronica Mauseth inspect an old letter that was discovered in the mail recently. Stephen Kloosterman|MLive.com

Rowe and Mauseth said the letter was saved from the ordinary "dead mail" pile by a mail carrier who realized that the letter was mailed from an Army base during World War II. The mail carrier – a veteran of the Iraq war – realized that the letter had an interesting story.

Hoping to find clues into the letter's past, the post office reached out to Richard Mullally, who for years has been documenting the history of Muskegon County's World War II Veterans.

"I get some pretty unusual requests," Mullally said.

Edward Lee SensabaughCourtesy photo|Richard Mullally

Mullally said he had a photo and record of a World War II-era Navy veteran named Edward Lee Sensabaugh. He said the last name was a rare one. He planned to do some more research into Cook and Sensabaugh's history.

Readers with information about the letter, its sender or recipients are invited to email the postmaster at william.j.rowe@usps.gov.